Grim Shadows at Grimmauld
by weapon13WhiteFang
Summary: The war is over and Harry and Ginny have settled down at a fixed up and rather homely Twelve Grimmauld Place... Along with Bat of the Dungeons Severus Snape trying to stay hidden and find peace after his recovery and survival.


**(So I just had this random image of these two drinking coffee together at Grimmauld Place and I ended up making this thingy… Nothing special but I had a lot of fun writing it and I think it's kinda sweet at some parts but I also wanted to add some sadness because, let's face it, Sev's life is full of it and it wont go away that easily. Especially with the ghost of his mind still fighting to bug him.)**

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**Grim Shadows at Grimmauld**

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Twelve Grimmauld Place. How often had he found himself here. How often had he dealt with the constant mistrustful eye of Moody or the shrew disgust of Sirius Black in this very household? How long ago… How long ago had it been since he'd found himself crouched over in Sirius's room, screaming and crying like the broken man he was over Lily's letter and the photograph. Two things he still had. He was surprised Potter hadn't asked for them back… But then again him and Potter hadn't really talked at all since the end of the war, Severus reflected as he slowly descended down the stairs from the room presented to him.

The house itself had changed much. With Potter now living here with his fiancée it was no surprise. Ginevra Weasley had taken to house cleaning like a fish to water. No surprise given who her mother was. Molly Weasley could most likely get dirt out of a carpet with a toothbrush if she needed to. No doubt she would pass those skills down to her only daughter, who had livened up the grim Grimmauld home.

Every inch of the hosue was spotless. The carpet and wall paper had been lightened, giving the halls and rooms color. With a lot of work, the horrid picture of Mrs. Black had been removed. Potter and Ginevra had moved into Black's room. Again with much work the posters and all of Black's god awful muggle… art… had been taken care off. With the help of her mother, the place was perfect now for a young Wizarding couple.

But… Not so much for himself. He had survived. His neck held the telltale marks of Nagini's bite for all to see. Much to his distaste and slight rage everyone – and he meant _everyone _for it had been featured in The Quibber of all places! – knew of his work as a spy, of his past – his past with Lily he absently corrected – and his plight to protect the son of the man he loathed and the woman he loved with all his being.

A strong bitter taste still washed over his taste buds at the very idea that every being in the wizarding world now knew something so personal an secret of his. Damn Potter and opening his damn mouth! Sighing in agitation for what felt like the millionth time, Severus Snape made his way to the kitchen. He needed coffee. He had and never would be a morning person. He just wanted his coffee and to slink back into the privacy of his – no not his, Potter's – room… That had been offered to him.

Pushing open the door – now all of which all had been replaced with a light brown mahogany colored doors – to the kitchen, he was assaulted with a lovely arouma of breakfast and a rather surprising image. He stood in the doorway facing the back of Ginevra Weasley. That would not be so unusual or uncomfortable… If she were dressed more appropriate. Her hair was a mess as it cascaded down her back, obviously having just rolled out of bed. Her attire – or _lack of_ – was a Gryffindor Quidditch shirt with POTTER written across the shoulders and yellow socks.

In the corner of the kitchen sat an old radio and from it played a familiar muggle tune from the 70s that he recalled hearing once or twice while over the summer to go and pick up lily from her home to play… He found he could still even recall some of the lyrics as the man sang.

_Why somebody, why people break up?  
Oh, turn around and make up  
I just can't see  
You'd never do that to me (Would you, baby?)_

"…Snape? Professor Snape… Are you alright?" He was pulled from his thoughts of a time when him and Lily had played in her livingroom to music playing – her teaching him some ridiculous dance as Tuney scowled but played along – as years of self-control kept him from recoiling as he snapped to attention. His eyes found Ginevra's briefly as he straightened.

"Miss Weasley as I have told you and Potter I am no longer your Professor and do not require you two to constantly refer to me as such," he stiffly replied, his eyes leaving hers as he looked at the wall behind and above her, pretending to look at her. It was not out of rudeness… Rather out of the fact that – for just a few seconds – Ginevra had looked like Lily… He felt a shiver attempting to shoot up his spine.

It was not the first time he had noted the sort of Oedipus like relationship Potter had fallen into. The only difference between Ginevra Weasley and Lily Ev-Potter, was her eyes. He suppose the hair color was slightly different. But it was the overall fact that Potter resembled James Potter so much and for him to take on a fiancée – soon wife – who resembled his mother all in but her eyes was enough to make him almost sick to his stomach. There kids – if they choose to have any, which he didn't doubt they wouldn't – would look like them… One might even have Lily's eyes and Ginevra's red hair… It would be almost another Lily Evans.

Ginevra's face reddened in obvious annoyance at his tone but she held her tongue and turned back to her cooking. He choose that moment to walk over to the coffee maker and poured himself a fresh cup, pleased that it was already made so he didn't have to stand around in the kitchen awkwardly. "I made breakfast," Ginevra said softly as he turned to leave. Looking at her out of the corner of his eyes he found her looking expectedly at him as she started making plates. He saw two become three and he knew where this was heading.

"I am quite capable of making my own, Ginevra," he drawled gruffly. He never did like being cared for. It made him feel uncomfortable. As a child Mrs. Evans – Lily's mother – had tried to mother and care for him when he would visit. It had been embarrassing. And years later, having an eighteen-year-old trying to feed him was degrading.

She fixed him with a blank expression. "I'm sure you are, sir, but seeing as how I have enough food for all three of us I think it seems silly to go searching for more, doesn't it?" She smiled then before gathering the plates and sitting them at the table. She waved her wand and three chairs presented themselves for someone to sit before she walked to the fridge.

His head snapped away as she bent over to grab from the bottom of the chiller, the shirt riding up as she did. "It would be in your best interest, Weasley, to start wearing more… Proper… attire with guest among you and Potter," he said stiffly as she straightened and he took the seat farthest from the other two. Ginevra stared at him before a light seemed too clicked and her face went very red. Excusing herself, she quickly made to the laundry room. A few seconds later and she returned still in Potter's shirt and what appeared to be his gym shorts, her wand tucked behind her left ear. She walked over and made sure the stove was off before taking a seat closes to him, leaving Potter to sit on the other side if he joined us.

As if sensing his inquiry – not that he truly wanted to know. It was more for curiosity – she smiled. "He's sleeping in. He had a rough ast night." Ah. Yes. That was right. Potter and many of the seventh year students had been given the option of returning to school once it was complete from repairs for their seventh year then take their OWLs or go into their careers now and there. Of course Weasley and Potter had jumped at taking to their careers now.

Both had applied for Auror and their accumulated grades over the years – along with their defeating of The Dark Lord – had earned them enough pass for the training. A training which was very difficult and dangerous. Granger had been the sensible one to finish her last year with Ginevra and a few of her other classmates for a term before easily getting all O's on her OWLs and finding a career at The _Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures_ and _Department of Magical Law Enforcement._ She was also set to marry Weasley in a month. The Buffon and the Brightest Witch of her Time… Yes they should make wonderful children, he thought bitterly.

"Does it taste bad? I'm not as good as mom but I thought it would at least taste decent," Ginevra once again interrupted into his thoughts, causing him to blink and look down at his hand holding a fork full of food… He hadn't realized he'd been eating. He took another bite and swallowed before answering. "It tastes fine…" She smiled at that before she continued eating, both finding an actually calming companionship. He did not feel he needed to talk and she didn't seem to either.

And he realized this was the first time Ginevra and him had a moment between just them. He had no reason to associate with the youngest Weasley so he never had. Even when she was offering him a room with Potter, he had been right by her side. Strangely he found her tolerable. Out of all the Weasley she was the quiet, respectful one. Even when he had been playing headmaster and she had been looking at him with such loathing hate she had been respectful… If not for spite. She was also the one of the two who had never called him by just his last name. With Potter and Weasley – after he had specified he did not wish to be called Professor anymore – had resorted to Snape or occasionally sir. She and Granger had been the firsts other than Minerva or Pomfrey to call him by his first name. Sometimes she would slip into her old habit of professor but it was getting rare.

Once he finished his food and calmly drank his coffee as Ginevra read The Quibbler, smiling or chucking when she seemed to read something she liked or something obscene… And watching her smile he once again was presented an image of an older Lily – back in their fifth year before she stopped talking to him – smiling and reading The Prophet. The image stung and he felt his walls thrown up again and he stiffly drank his coffee.

"Morning, Harry," Ginevra stated as she lowered her paper and stood, smiling brightly as she walked around Severus to meet Potter as she stepped into the kitchen. Out of the corner of his eyes he caught Ginevra as she reached up and tangled her fingers into his unruly hair. He did the same and the two met for a simple morning kiss… And for a second too long James Potter was standing holding Lily and Severus nearly choked on his coffee before standing up as quickly but inconspicuous as possible and waving his wand to make the dishes put themselves up. Potter and Ginevra stared at him in surprise before he gae a stiff nod of greeting to Potter before making past them and up the stairs.

"What's wrong with him?" he heard Potter mumble. Ginevra said something back but he had already made it all the way up the stairs by then. He flung himself into his room after quickly shutting the door. Pain shot through his chest – his heart – as he fought back the rage and pain. It wasn't them! James Potter and Lily Evans were not down stairs. It wasn't them! He had to keep telling himself this as he fought for calm. Slowly – having fallen to his knees – he stood and sat on the bed, his fingers entangled in his hair. He stared at the floor, lost in memories and pain before he slowly came to himself as a clock in the hallway struck twelve PM.

**R & R Plz**

**The Song mentioned Let's Stay Together by Al Green.**


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